It has been an interesting week. A snapping turtle the size of a dinner plate stopped by the back door to lay her eggs, swallows have taken over the horse stall in back of the barn, the cherries and strawberries are getting ripe and Charlie couldn't get gelded because he has only one "ball" dropped.
My beautiful new roses are blooming along with the old ones. I am particularily impressed with the coral color or soft orange maybe, of the rose Carefree Celebration. Daylillies are beginning to bloom too. My oriental lilies are 8 foot tall already probably because of all the rain. I bought some stakes for them but the buds are still small so they won't need it yet.
Michael Jackson died. Everyone made fun of him while he was alive but now that he's dead everybody acts like he was some kind of beloved icon, which he wasn't. He was a weird little man, possibly a pervert and I didn't even think his singing was that good. His poor kids- at least now they may have a chance to be in a normal household and as time goes by maybe they will forget how odd he was. Once again drugs were probably his downfall and a doctor may have helped his addiction.
Every family seems to have its odd one, doesn't it? (Although in my family we may all be odd.) Every family could probably have a story written about it. Warning - family- I may someday write all about you!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Father's day
My mom and dad leave on a trip to
On Fathers day I have to say this. I have one of the best fathers there is. He never complains, (unless someone tries to keep him from doing what he wants to do, like shoveling snow), he was good to us kids growing up and we always knew he loved us. He didn’t drink or go out with the guys, didn’t smoke and went to church every Sunday. He waits on mom hand and foot and even though mom can be a bit difficult at times he always tries to please her. He helps around the house and helps the neighbors out too. He still plays with the little ones, crawling around on the floor, reading to them and playing games. Kids always loved my dad even though he doesn’t put up with bad behavior.
My dad had the same job all his life from the time he got out of the army. It wasn’t a glamorous job, he was a shipping and receiving manager at a Sears store. I know there were times, especially in later years as Sears fortunes went up and down, that he greatly disliked his job, but he always gave 100% and he stuck it out until retirement age. My mom was a stay at home mom- raising six kids you almost have to be, she never learned to drive. Dad made that paycheck stretch, he was good at fixing things and he never spent money on himself. He does spend a little on things he wants now, although he doesn’t have a lot of “wants.”
We went camping and fishing and on Sunday drives. And we went to church every Sunday and sat in the same pew. My dad built us playhouses and rabbit cages and fixed our bikes. He lived in a house with 6 women and only one son, a son that went to war at age 17. My brother came home safely but then he moved far away- to
I watched my dad cry over his father as we made the difficult decision to put him in a nursing home when his Alzheimer’s became too much for everyone to deal with. He had built his house next to his dads and had lived beside him all his life. Now he stopped every day after work to shave and feed his father where he mercifully only lasted a few months. My dad then took care of his mom, who continued living next door until she was well into her 90’s, active and alert until a stroke caused her to fall and break a hip. He then made the daily trip to visit her in her nursing home, although she didn’t always know him.
One of the things my dad always wanted to do was learn to fly, he never got the chance, and for that I am truly sorry. It makes me conscious of the fact that if there are things you want to do - do them!
I always know I can go to my dad with my problems and he’ll listen and try to help. I can’t imagine life without him, even though I have begun to prepare for it. How sad it is that just as we begin to appreciate how wonderful and wise our parents are, that they leave us. I just hope my dad has 20 more good years, where he’s active and happy.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Trip through the valley
We took another one of those trips to Saginaw VA today. It is an overcast day, with the sun occasionally breaking through, not terribly hot but muggy. The flat fields in the Saginaw valley look like they got planted a bit sooner than some around here and the crops are coming up. I particularly noticed two things today as we passed old the old German- Dutch farms. One was the beautiful clematis that many had in bloom. Even small plants seemed to be blooming and unlike the common purple Jackamani variety I have blooming, these seemed to be mostly a large pink flowered variety. It was like they had passed starts of that vine from person to person. Maybe they had or maybe it’s an old variety that the German- Dutch farmers preferred. Many yards had few other flowers but they had a pink clematis climbing something. Peonies were in bloom too and those were common sights around the old farms.
The second thing I noticed today was that many of the old farm houses had very narrow porches, porches where you could sit in a straight chair against the house wall and rest your feet on the porch rail. Some of the porches curved around 2 or more sides of the house, some were just across the front. I guess this was economy of building, why make a porch any wider than a place to sit? This too must be some kind of custom from the homelands.
I love the big old barns, on most of these places they are well kept and painted either red or green with white trim. There are lots of small buildings around these old farms too, I can recognize the typical chicken house but many of the buildings I can’t place a use for. I would love to have a wealth of small buildings like these, perfect for a couple pigs or a few turkeys or separating big chickens from young chickens- which may be the uses the buildings were built for. My husband laughs at my interest in barns and out buildings. He says it’s a good thing I don’t have a lot of them as I would fill them with animals.
I do love the ride through the Saginaw valley on a nice day. The terrain is so flat you can see for miles. Then as you travel east to the Kingston area the terrain gets to be rolling hills, closer to where we live. There are heavily wooded areas, ponds and farms with more livestock than crops, mostly beef cattle. But if you keep going east toward Sandusky you get back to the flat, level crop lands. A trip across the thumb with all its interesting points, and roads with telling names like French Line, English Road and Germania. Everyone should take such a trip from time to time, from the Saginaw Bay to Port Sanilac.
The second thing I noticed today was that many of the old farm houses had very narrow porches, porches where you could sit in a straight chair against the house wall and rest your feet on the porch rail. Some of the porches curved around 2 or more sides of the house, some were just across the front. I guess this was economy of building, why make a porch any wider than a place to sit? This too must be some kind of custom from the homelands.
I love the big old barns, on most of these places they are well kept and painted either red or green with white trim. There are lots of small buildings around these old farms too, I can recognize the typical chicken house but many of the buildings I can’t place a use for. I would love to have a wealth of small buildings like these, perfect for a couple pigs or a few turkeys or separating big chickens from young chickens- which may be the uses the buildings were built for. My husband laughs at my interest in barns and out buildings. He says it’s a good thing I don’t have a lot of them as I would fill them with animals.
I do love the ride through the Saginaw valley on a nice day. The terrain is so flat you can see for miles. Then as you travel east to the Kingston area the terrain gets to be rolling hills, closer to where we live. There are heavily wooded areas, ponds and farms with more livestock than crops, mostly beef cattle. But if you keep going east toward Sandusky you get back to the flat, level crop lands. A trip across the thumb with all its interesting points, and roads with telling names like French Line, English Road and Germania. Everyone should take such a trip from time to time, from the Saginaw Bay to Port Sanilac.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Locust trees
I had someone bring me a tree sample for identification. The piece had tiny white pea-like flowers in drooping clusters with the most delightful scent. The small round leaves made me think locust- as well as the flowers and when looking it up I found I was right - it was a Black Locust, considered by the author of the reference I consulted to be a “weedy tree” but I really liked it. The young guy who brought the piece in said the tree stood in an empty field and was quite huge. He wanted to get a young plant or seeds from it. I want one now too. Someone should make a perfume from that scent. On the way home from work I actually noticed two of the trees in yards, because of the white flowers. You would think a native tree that grows in poor soil as this one is supposed to do would be found in more places. It gets to 60 foot high and has rough interesting bark .
Our Bristly Locust is blooming right now, it’s flowers are larger but pea-like also and a pretty shade of pink. It has bristles up and down the stem and weedy does describe it. It makes small trees but spreads through runners and soon takes over a spot. We allow it to grow along the east side of our property by the road. It doesn’t have that nice smell but it is pretty this time of year.
We have had quite cool weather but I have taken the chance and planted out my tomatoes. I did something different this year and real redneck re-cycling- orientated. We had the box springs from a double bed in the spare bedroom we were going to throw out. It had a nice wood frame so I pulled it outside, took off the cloth on top and the layer of batting and excelsior under it and laid the frame over one of my raised beds, propped up by black plastic pots on each corner so it stands about 18 inches off the ground. I took the matt of batting and excelsior and laid it on the soil under the frame and cut holes through it to plant the tomatoes. I want the tomatoes to grow up through the frame of wood and wire springs and spread out over the top, off the ground. We will see what happens. It will be easy to throw a cloth over if frost threatens too, although it’s June and we shouldn’t be having frost! I am going to get a picture of it and post it here soon.
I saw the wild little kittens last night. There are at least 5 of them. We have 5 female cats on the farm and normally by this time we would have tons of kittens but this is the only litter we have had. Not that I’m complaining, its just strange. These will be real wild, I did pick one up because its little eyes were glued shut and it didn’t see me coming. It hissed like crazy but didn’t fight too hard. They are about 5 weeks old I think. It was nice and plump and besides its little eyes looked healthy. I pulled the eyelids open and put it in the feed dish where it started eating. The others snuck out after I went up to the barn and sat down. There are a lot of mostly white ones, our cats tend to be mostly white or black although we do have two striped ones now.
They say that the color of the feral cats in your area can give you clues as to where the original settlers of the area came from, as the color of the feral cats reverts back to the original stock after a while and different ethnic groups preferred different colored cats. I think the black and white / gray and white ones like ours were supposed to be Dutch, which could be, German- Dutch people did settle this area early on and the Amish are German derived. There are a lot of cats marked like ours in town too.
Today Charlie will get his first hoof trimming. This should be fun. Hopefully neither I nor the gal coming to do it will get hurt nor will he. This girl is a friend of a neighbor and hopefully she knows what she is doing. I could not find anyone who wanted to come out here just to do two mini- horses without charging an arm and a leg. I tied Charlie up to a post the other night to try and get a piece of wire out of his tail and he managed to break the post and take off dragging it which scared me to death. He stopped though when he got to where Lily was and I was able to walk up and unsnap the lead. It was hitting his legs and belly and I was afraid he would kill himself. The post was rotten- that should teach me a lesson.- Maybe him too, hope he doesn’t freak out being tied today.
Our Bristly Locust is blooming right now, it’s flowers are larger but pea-like also and a pretty shade of pink. It has bristles up and down the stem and weedy does describe it. It makes small trees but spreads through runners and soon takes over a spot. We allow it to grow along the east side of our property by the road. It doesn’t have that nice smell but it is pretty this time of year.
We have had quite cool weather but I have taken the chance and planted out my tomatoes. I did something different this year and real redneck re-cycling- orientated. We had the box springs from a double bed in the spare bedroom we were going to throw out. It had a nice wood frame so I pulled it outside, took off the cloth on top and the layer of batting and excelsior under it and laid the frame over one of my raised beds, propped up by black plastic pots on each corner so it stands about 18 inches off the ground. I took the matt of batting and excelsior and laid it on the soil under the frame and cut holes through it to plant the tomatoes. I want the tomatoes to grow up through the frame of wood and wire springs and spread out over the top, off the ground. We will see what happens. It will be easy to throw a cloth over if frost threatens too, although it’s June and we shouldn’t be having frost! I am going to get a picture of it and post it here soon.
I saw the wild little kittens last night. There are at least 5 of them. We have 5 female cats on the farm and normally by this time we would have tons of kittens but this is the only litter we have had. Not that I’m complaining, its just strange. These will be real wild, I did pick one up because its little eyes were glued shut and it didn’t see me coming. It hissed like crazy but didn’t fight too hard. They are about 5 weeks old I think. It was nice and plump and besides its little eyes looked healthy. I pulled the eyelids open and put it in the feed dish where it started eating. The others snuck out after I went up to the barn and sat down. There are a lot of mostly white ones, our cats tend to be mostly white or black although we do have two striped ones now.
They say that the color of the feral cats in your area can give you clues as to where the original settlers of the area came from, as the color of the feral cats reverts back to the original stock after a while and different ethnic groups preferred different colored cats. I think the black and white / gray and white ones like ours were supposed to be Dutch, which could be, German- Dutch people did settle this area early on and the Amish are German derived. There are a lot of cats marked like ours in town too.
Today Charlie will get his first hoof trimming. This should be fun. Hopefully neither I nor the gal coming to do it will get hurt nor will he. This girl is a friend of a neighbor and hopefully she knows what she is doing. I could not find anyone who wanted to come out here just to do two mini- horses without charging an arm and a leg. I tied Charlie up to a post the other night to try and get a piece of wire out of his tail and he managed to break the post and take off dragging it which scared me to death. He stopped though when he got to where Lily was and I was able to walk up and unsnap the lead. It was hitting his legs and belly and I was afraid he would kill himself. The post was rotten- that should teach me a lesson.- Maybe him too, hope he doesn’t freak out being tied today.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Planting time and fat horses
It’s planting time and no matter how I try I always have more things to do than time to do them. Today after some office work I got outside just in time to get half my corn planted before it started storming. Steve made and filled a nice new 5 x 10 raised bed for corn. It doesn’t seem like much but we had plenty of corn last year from a bed that size.
I have got onions, potatoes and lettuce up and growing. I made a trip to a packed greenhouse last Saturday and picked up some new plants, one of them is quite intriguing its got large, wine red trumpet shaped flowers on a trailing vine and is called LoFos, which is short for some long Latin name. I guess it has been popular in Europe for a few years and is called Trailing Gloxina there. I got my mom and daughter in law each one too.
I got some petunias because I can’t resist some of the gorgeous colors they have even though it’s hard to find a place for them here. And I bought more lavender because some of my plants didn’t make it through the winter and a single pepper and some cinnamon basil. My sage is finally getting some new green so it did make it through the winter and the pineapple mint is also coming back- although it’s hard to kill mint. I also bought a couple new perennials. I spend way too much on plants.
A Master Gardener friend brought me some of his “trilliums” which he said his woods were full of. They turned out to be mayapples instead, but that’s ok - they look great in one of my shaded gardens and the silky white flowers scanned well for my scan art pictures. It was great weather for transplanting stuff too.
My horses Charlie and Lily took a little trip last Saturday morning. They pushed the gate out at the bottom and walked up the road in time for breakfast at the big horse farm. The neighbors were kind enough to lead them home and put them back in the pasture without waking us. I was quite puzzled in the morning though, because the gate was all bent up but the horses were inside with both latches on. I spotted a mini manure pile next to my hosta which I knew wasn’t there the night before and then I did some sleuthing and found the tiny hoof prints going up the road. I guessed they had been out - Lily wasn’t that hungry, another clue, but couldn’t figure out who had put them back without us hearing, dogs didn’t even wake up. The neighbor rode over on Monday and told me about it.
I am trying to decide if Lily is PG or just fat. If she is pregnant she would have at least a month before she foaled. If she’s just fat I got to try and get her to lose weight. In a day or so I’ll post some pictures of fat Lily so you can be the judge. I didn’t want to say anything to my husband because this happened before when we got our Shetland pony Tinker, I thought she was pregnant and made him put up more fence so she could be alone and it turned out she wasn’t pregnant. He thinks I’m nuts. But Lily was with two males, a mini jack donkey and a mini stallion or at least close to them and the man who sold her to me said something about separating her from the rest of the horses because she was always trying to protect Charlie. I got her when Charlie was two months old, which would have given her at least two heat periods before I got her. Charlie was born July 19 and mares come into heat about ten days after foaling, gestation is 11 months more or less, so that leaves about a month before its possible for her to foal.
The tree frogs are really noisy tonight. It’s amazing how big a sound their little bodies can make. They like this warmer wet weather. I guess I’ll take a walk outside as the rain has let up, and get carried away by mosquitoes.
I have got onions, potatoes and lettuce up and growing. I made a trip to a packed greenhouse last Saturday and picked up some new plants, one of them is quite intriguing its got large, wine red trumpet shaped flowers on a trailing vine and is called LoFos, which is short for some long Latin name. I guess it has been popular in Europe for a few years and is called Trailing Gloxina there. I got my mom and daughter in law each one too.
I got some petunias because I can’t resist some of the gorgeous colors they have even though it’s hard to find a place for them here. And I bought more lavender because some of my plants didn’t make it through the winter and a single pepper and some cinnamon basil. My sage is finally getting some new green so it did make it through the winter and the pineapple mint is also coming back- although it’s hard to kill mint. I also bought a couple new perennials. I spend way too much on plants.
A Master Gardener friend brought me some of his “trilliums” which he said his woods were full of. They turned out to be mayapples instead, but that’s ok - they look great in one of my shaded gardens and the silky white flowers scanned well for my scan art pictures. It was great weather for transplanting stuff too.
My horses Charlie and Lily took a little trip last Saturday morning. They pushed the gate out at the bottom and walked up the road in time for breakfast at the big horse farm. The neighbors were kind enough to lead them home and put them back in the pasture without waking us. I was quite puzzled in the morning though, because the gate was all bent up but the horses were inside with both latches on. I spotted a mini manure pile next to my hosta which I knew wasn’t there the night before and then I did some sleuthing and found the tiny hoof prints going up the road. I guessed they had been out - Lily wasn’t that hungry, another clue, but couldn’t figure out who had put them back without us hearing, dogs didn’t even wake up. The neighbor rode over on Monday and told me about it.
I am trying to decide if Lily is PG or just fat. If she is pregnant she would have at least a month before she foaled. If she’s just fat I got to try and get her to lose weight. In a day or so I’ll post some pictures of fat Lily so you can be the judge. I didn’t want to say anything to my husband because this happened before when we got our Shetland pony Tinker, I thought she was pregnant and made him put up more fence so she could be alone and it turned out she wasn’t pregnant. He thinks I’m nuts. But Lily was with two males, a mini jack donkey and a mini stallion or at least close to them and the man who sold her to me said something about separating her from the rest of the horses because she was always trying to protect Charlie. I got her when Charlie was two months old, which would have given her at least two heat periods before I got her. Charlie was born July 19 and mares come into heat about ten days after foaling, gestation is 11 months more or less, so that leaves about a month before its possible for her to foal.
The tree frogs are really noisy tonight. It’s amazing how big a sound their little bodies can make. They like this warmer wet weather. I guess I’ll take a walk outside as the rain has let up, and get carried away by mosquitoes.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Beautiful Sunday
It’s a beautiful spring Sunday morning in Michigan. My orioles are back, they are eating their grape jelly at the feeder, but I still haven’t seen any hummingbirds. Yesterday I bought a beautiful red wave petunia, just one to plant out front to attract them. Their feeder is full and waiting. The nursery was full of beautiful things but I restrained myself to a bleeding heart, (I don’t have any here), a new heuchera, a small agave, and that petunia. Its so nice to wander through a greenhouse on a day that’s not too hot but all those silly people buying tomatoes and all kinds of annual flowers may be in for many more trips to replace what they plant out too early.
I was talking to the greenhouse manager who is growing some tomatoes for an experimental garden we will have at Extension to see what is disease resistant and grows well in this area. I bought some unusual seeds and wanted them to be grown in a greenhouse so they would be nice and sturdy. The manager was telling me despite the fact that things were a little behind outside they are actually ahead of last year in the greenhouse as far as plant growth. But the farmers have not been able to get into the fields - and the plants they grow for some of them, tomatoes and such, are getting lanky.
That’s going to become a real problem around here soon, its getting late to plant and some fields still look like swamps. Field crop planting is well behind schedule.
I am hoping that some of this water, we have everywhere will dry up before we get any more. Rain is supposed to return mid week. Steve is outside mowing the backyard and I am inside babysitting the dogs. They have to be locked inside because he is doing the back yard, their space, which is about 6 inches high. He goes through the west pasture to get into the back yard so I had to move the horses over to the east pasture so they wouldn’t be in his way- lots of moving and prep for a simple task. The rest of the lawn may still be too wet to mow- he got stuck a few days ago in the front yard on the mower.
The April showers and cool weather have made the flowers pretty. The tulips are blooming, and forget me nots. Dandelions are blooming - and I saw some bumble bees on them. Now if I had more time to work on the yard it would be great. I did get things straightened up on the back porch where some plants over wintered and I started some cabbage seed in a flat there.
I am going to get out later today and go over some of my flower beds carefully to see what survived winter and what didn’t. It looks like my lavender plants are gone and maybe the sage. The roses by the house are leafed out as is the clematis but the roses in my big open bed still don’t show any green. Ferns are coming up but I don’t see any hosta tips yet. I did find some pretty pink violets on the west side of the house where it’s shady. I planted them years ago, but didn’t see any for several years, but strangely they are back. Lose some, win some I guess.
Mr white duck has disappeared without a trace. I have let the horses go down by the pond to eat the last few days and left the gate open to the west pasture for them. He probably went through the gate and once in the pasture he can get through the field fence and wander the neighborhood. He and his friend used to go on walk abouts every spring. Now he wanders alone, I guess. Wild ducks are visiting our pond so he should have stayed. I saw the yellow warblers down by the pond too. That pond is as full as it’s ever been. It’s got to be 15 feet deep or more on the east end.
I was just saying to Steve that it was unusual that we didn’t have any kittens yet and when I went out to feed Friday I heard new kittens crying from under the wild cat’s shelter. They all came out of there so I don’t know who had them. Don’t want to lift that to look either. Haven’t heard anything since, maybe they died. The little black and white cat that comes around from time to time is very pg. She is tamer than our wild cats but very secretive with her kittens. She’ll bring them here to eat when they can walk.
Kittens may be the only babies around here this year. There won’t be puppies and I don’t need chicks. One of the turkeys may hatch eggs but it doesn’t look great for that. No lambs, and probably no foals, although Lily is a little plump. That will be strange - spring without babies.
I was talking to the greenhouse manager who is growing some tomatoes for an experimental garden we will have at Extension to see what is disease resistant and grows well in this area. I bought some unusual seeds and wanted them to be grown in a greenhouse so they would be nice and sturdy. The manager was telling me despite the fact that things were a little behind outside they are actually ahead of last year in the greenhouse as far as plant growth. But the farmers have not been able to get into the fields - and the plants they grow for some of them, tomatoes and such, are getting lanky.
That’s going to become a real problem around here soon, its getting late to plant and some fields still look like swamps. Field crop planting is well behind schedule.
I am hoping that some of this water, we have everywhere will dry up before we get any more. Rain is supposed to return mid week. Steve is outside mowing the backyard and I am inside babysitting the dogs. They have to be locked inside because he is doing the back yard, their space, which is about 6 inches high. He goes through the west pasture to get into the back yard so I had to move the horses over to the east pasture so they wouldn’t be in his way- lots of moving and prep for a simple task. The rest of the lawn may still be too wet to mow- he got stuck a few days ago in the front yard on the mower.
The April showers and cool weather have made the flowers pretty. The tulips are blooming, and forget me nots. Dandelions are blooming - and I saw some bumble bees on them. Now if I had more time to work on the yard it would be great. I did get things straightened up on the back porch where some plants over wintered and I started some cabbage seed in a flat there.
I am going to get out later today and go over some of my flower beds carefully to see what survived winter and what didn’t. It looks like my lavender plants are gone and maybe the sage. The roses by the house are leafed out as is the clematis but the roses in my big open bed still don’t show any green. Ferns are coming up but I don’t see any hosta tips yet. I did find some pretty pink violets on the west side of the house where it’s shady. I planted them years ago, but didn’t see any for several years, but strangely they are back. Lose some, win some I guess.
Mr white duck has disappeared without a trace. I have let the horses go down by the pond to eat the last few days and left the gate open to the west pasture for them. He probably went through the gate and once in the pasture he can get through the field fence and wander the neighborhood. He and his friend used to go on walk abouts every spring. Now he wanders alone, I guess. Wild ducks are visiting our pond so he should have stayed. I saw the yellow warblers down by the pond too. That pond is as full as it’s ever been. It’s got to be 15 feet deep or more on the east end.
I was just saying to Steve that it was unusual that we didn’t have any kittens yet and when I went out to feed Friday I heard new kittens crying from under the wild cat’s shelter. They all came out of there so I don’t know who had them. Don’t want to lift that to look either. Haven’t heard anything since, maybe they died. The little black and white cat that comes around from time to time is very pg. She is tamer than our wild cats but very secretive with her kittens. She’ll bring them here to eat when they can walk.
Kittens may be the only babies around here this year. There won’t be puppies and I don’t need chicks. One of the turkeys may hatch eggs but it doesn’t look great for that. No lambs, and probably no foals, although Lily is a little plump. That will be strange - spring without babies.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
spring
I have had a beautiful weekend on the farm. By chance good weather coincided with my editor quitting her job and the company hasn’t replaced her yet. We are in the middle of author review on my book so that isn’t good, but I had the weekend to just relax and enjoy the weather- well not relax really- I worked on my gardens. Today is a little overcast and cooler than yesterday, but the sun peaks out from time to time and it isn’t that bad. I worked a bit outside and did some overdue house cleaning.
The daffodils are blooming here in Michigan. Its been a long, slow spring and we are supposed to get more cold weather soon. But this beautiful weather spell the last few days helped. The frogs have been really noisy, but I have yet to see a snake. I see plenty of buzzards but haven’t seen a bluebird or my orioles or hummingbirds. I bought grape jelly for the orioles at the store but I hope the hummers are smart and stay south a bit longer.
The birds are nesting though. I watched a grackle picking up huge mouthfuls of dried weeds and try to fly off with them. The little sparrows were getting horse hair from where the horses had rubbed on the fence. The squirrels are probably nesting too. The buggers are eating the buds on the trees right now. I know they are hungry this time of year but they are so destructive.
Its dry enough the farmers are working in the fields. In fact we could use a little rain. I want the grass to grow well in the pasture- it seems to have slowed down. Charlie and Lily seem to be grazing ok, although I have been throwing in a flake of hay from time to time. Charlie is getting to be a real handful. He really needs to be gelded, although that will have to wait until my next advance check now. The hens are getting out nearly every day and getting some of their own food. The turkeys have quit laying for a while and it’s comical to see them outside taking dust baths.
My birthday was this week and I have been thinking about age and its consequences. My dad turns 80 this year. I can’t believe I am this old, how quickly time flies. It seems like yesterday when I was out helping my grandmother in her yard, going to the swamp after school, riding my bike. Then I had that little house in the city, and this time of year I would have been getting my garden ready and dreading working long hours at the Kmart garden shop. Then Steve and I working on that same yard, putting in a pond, going to spring bird shows with our birds. And even the times when we first moved to the country we would be out there chasing steers or pigs probably and making those long commutes back and forth to our city jobs, wasting hours of time each day.
I think of my son graduating, the grandbabies I sat in the room and watched being born and the ones I didn’t get to watch toddling about the farm. I think of family reunions and weddings and funerals. It seems I have had several different lives, different eras of time and different me’s . Ah life, it is so grand and goes so fast. I wonder what’s ahead?
The daffodils are blooming here in Michigan. Its been a long, slow spring and we are supposed to get more cold weather soon. But this beautiful weather spell the last few days helped. The frogs have been really noisy, but I have yet to see a snake. I see plenty of buzzards but haven’t seen a bluebird or my orioles or hummingbirds. I bought grape jelly for the orioles at the store but I hope the hummers are smart and stay south a bit longer.
The birds are nesting though. I watched a grackle picking up huge mouthfuls of dried weeds and try to fly off with them. The little sparrows were getting horse hair from where the horses had rubbed on the fence. The squirrels are probably nesting too. The buggers are eating the buds on the trees right now. I know they are hungry this time of year but they are so destructive.
Its dry enough the farmers are working in the fields. In fact we could use a little rain. I want the grass to grow well in the pasture- it seems to have slowed down. Charlie and Lily seem to be grazing ok, although I have been throwing in a flake of hay from time to time. Charlie is getting to be a real handful. He really needs to be gelded, although that will have to wait until my next advance check now. The hens are getting out nearly every day and getting some of their own food. The turkeys have quit laying for a while and it’s comical to see them outside taking dust baths.
My birthday was this week and I have been thinking about age and its consequences. My dad turns 80 this year. I can’t believe I am this old, how quickly time flies. It seems like yesterday when I was out helping my grandmother in her yard, going to the swamp after school, riding my bike. Then I had that little house in the city, and this time of year I would have been getting my garden ready and dreading working long hours at the Kmart garden shop. Then Steve and I working on that same yard, putting in a pond, going to spring bird shows with our birds. And even the times when we first moved to the country we would be out there chasing steers or pigs probably and making those long commutes back and forth to our city jobs, wasting hours of time each day.
I think of my son graduating, the grandbabies I sat in the room and watched being born and the ones I didn’t get to watch toddling about the farm. I think of family reunions and weddings and funerals. It seems I have had several different lives, different eras of time and different me’s . Ah life, it is so grand and goes so fast. I wonder what’s ahead?
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